Chips' Fun House ~ View topic - The Burning Crusade

Last.FM · Forum Sniper Joined: 26 Jul 2005 Posts: 696

WORLD OF WARCRAFT®: THE BURNING CRUSADE™
IN STORES JANUARY 16, 2007
Street date set for the expansion to Blizzard Entertainment®'s massively multiplayer online role-playing game as subscriber base reaches 7.5 million players worldwide

IRVINE, Calif. –– November 9, 2006 –– Blizzard Entertainment® announced today that World of Warcraft®: The Burning Crusade™, the highly anticipated expansion to the world's leading subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game, World of Warcraft, will be in stores on January 16 in North America and Europe. The expansion will be available in a similar time frame in Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore as well, and availability for mainland China and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau will be announced in the near future. In addition, Blizzard today announced that the subscriber base for World of Warcraft has reached a new milestone, with 7.5 million players worldwide.

"While World of Warcraft has continued to grow rapidly along with its player population, The Burning Crusade will represent our single largest addition of new game content and new features to date," said Mike Morhaime, president and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "With this expansion, we're looking forward to offering the same level of quality that players have experienced in World of Warcraft so far, and we'll continue balancing and play-testing up until launch to ensure that The Burning Crusade achieves that goal."

In World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, players will be able to advance their characters up to level 70, unlocking a world of power and possibilities along the way. Additional features coming in The Burning Crusade include two new playable races (the Blood Elves and the Draenei), flying mounts, new talents and abilities for all character classes, the new jewelcrafting profession, new magical weapons and armor, and many enhancements to player-vs.-player action. The expansion will also lead veteran players through the fabled Dark Portal and into Outland, former homeworld of the Orcs and site of a series of cataclysmic events that helped shape the history of the Warcraft® universe. In this shattered world, players will encounter new challenges and dangers in the form of new outdoor zones, quests, dungeons, never-before-seen monsters, and much more. Over the course of their new adventures in The Burning Crusade, players will grow in experience and power as they uncover the rich lore and mysteries of Outland and do battle with the demonic forces of The Burning Legion.

World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade will be available at retail stores nationwide for Windows® 2000/XP and Macintosh® formats at a suggested retail price of $39.99. A special Collector's Edition of the expansion will also be available, at a suggested retail price of $69.99. This limited-edition package will include the expansion on both CD-ROM and DVD, the Art of the Burning Crusade coffee table book, an exclusive in-game pet, a behind-the-scenes DVD, two World of Warcraft Trading Card Game starter decks and three exclusive cards, a map of Outland mouse pad, and the official soundtrack CD. The World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade expansion requires the original World of Warcraft game, which is now selling for a suggested retail price of $19.99. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade has received a Teen rating from the ESRB.

For more information on World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, please visit the official website for the expansion at www.worldofwarcraft.com/burningcrusade.

World of Warcraft's Customer Definition
World of Warcraft customers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or purchased a prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the installation box bundled with one free month access. Internet Game Room players who have accessed the game over the last thirty days are also counted as customers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions, and expired prepaid cards. Customers in licensees' territories are defined along the same rules.

About Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
Best known for blockbuster hits including World of Warcraft® and the Warcraft®, StarCraft®, and Diablo® series, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (www.blizzard.com), a division of Vivendi Games, is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment software renowned for creating many of the industry's most critically acclaimed games. Blizzard's track record includes nine #1-selling games and multiple Game of the Year awards. The company's free Internet gaming service, Battle.net®, reigns as the largest in the world, with millions of active users.

Source: Blizzard Press Release (http://blizzard.com/press/061109.shtml)

Several years have passed since the Burning Legion's defeat at Mount Hyjal and the races of Azeroth have continued to rebuild their once shattered lives. With renewed strength, the heroes of the Horde and Alliance have begun to explore new lands and broken through the Dark Portal to investigate the realms beyond the known world. Will these heroes find friends or foes? What dangers and rewards lie in wait beyond the Dark Portal? And what will they do when they discover that the demons they thought vanquished have returned to renew their terrible Burning Crusade?

World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade is the exciting new expansion to Blizzard's award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game. It expands the game by tremendous bounds, adding new races, lands, Battlegrounds, professions and items, and more.

Burning Crusade Gameplay Trailer
View the latest Burning Crusade Trailer in Flash 8 above or Download Full Video:
Requires DivX for PC or DivX for MAC.

Download for PC (36mb) | Download for MAC (36mb)

The Burning Crusade Features
Expansion Features Overview
An increase in the level cap to 70.
Two new playable races: the Blood Elves and the Draenei.
Arena-based Player vs. Player Ladder System.
New Battleground: Eye of the Storm.
3 New Cities, The Exodar, Shattrath and Silvermoon.
The entire new continent of Outland, reachable through the Dark Portal.
Many new high-level dungeons to explore in Azeroth, Outland, and elsewhere.
Selectable Dungeon Difficulty Setting.
New flying mounts in Outland.
Many new and dangerous monsters, including epic world bosses.
Hundreds of new quests.
Hundreds of new items.
A new profession: Jewelcrafting.
Socketed items.

New Races:
Alliance: Draenei
Horde: Blood Elves

New Cities:
Alliance: The Exodar
Neutral: Shattrath City
Horde: Silvermoon City

New World & Zones:
Outland
Hellfire Penninsula
Zangarmarsh
Terokkar Forest
Nagrand
Blade's Edge Mountains
Netherstorm
Shadowmoon Valley

New Dungeons:
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade will feature six new dungeons, with three additional dungeons to follow shortly after release for a total of nine brand-new dungeons for you and your friends to explore. Most of these new dungeons will have several different wings, so you can choose your own pace – either try to do them all in one session, or take your time and explore them one by one. And if you want to step up the challenge, you can also pick two different Dungeon Difficulty Level Settings. Adventure at your own pace!

Outland:
Hellfire Citadel
Coilfang Reservoir
Auchindoun
Tempest Keep

Azeroth:
Caverns of Time
Karazhan

New Mounts:
One of the most exciting new features of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade will be the introduction of player-controlled flying mounts for Outland. These new flying mounts will include Gryphons for the Alliance, Wyverns for the Horde, and also some extremely rare neutral flying mounts. Just like the regular mounts, flying mounts will come in regular and epic flavors so that once you have mastered the shattered realm of Outland, you will be able to take to the skies in style.

Alliance: Gryphon
Neutral: Nether Drake
Horde: Wyvern

Also, the expansion's two new races will each have their own unique mounts. The noble Draenei will ride majestic Elekk, while the power-hungry Blood Elves will chase down their enemies on the backs of swift and ferocious Hawkstriders.

Alliance: Elekk
Horde: Hawkstrider

New Arena PvP:
Crush your Enemies for Glory and Power
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade will introduce a brand-new type of PvP content for players eager to wet their steel with the blood of their enemies: welcome to the Arena! Form your own Arena Teams, fight for glory, earn powerful rewards, and compete for the top-spot in the Arena Ladder. At the end of each Arena Season, the top teams will be rewarded with incredible prizes to honor their epic achievement.

New Battleground: Eye of the Storm
Get ready for intense PvP action on brand-new Battlegrounds! The expansion will introduce "Eye of the Storm", a Domination / One Flag CTF Battleground for teams of 15 players, set in the chaotic wasteland of the Netherstorm.

New Profession: Jewelcrafting
Jewelcrafters learn the art of creating beautiful jewelry and trinkets from metals and rare gems. By processing the raw ore mined from the various deposits and mineral veins, jewelcrafters can extract gems from the ore which they can then use for their craft. Although miners sometimes find gems while gathering ore, jewelcrafters mostly rely on their prospecting skills to get more of the precious stones.

Another way jewelcrafters can use gems is by cutting them, preparing them to be used in socketed items. Gems come in many different colors and shapes. Different types of gems have different basic properties, and a gem's cut also determines the effect this gem will have.

New Content & Features:
As if new races, worlds, cities, dungeons, mounts, and professions weren't enough, the expansion will also enhance the game with a wide number of small innovations that will add up to a significantly improved gaming experience. From the new Looking for Group feature to the updated Character Sheet to an incredible number of new enemy models, the game millions around the world are enjoying is about to become even better.

Factions:
Honor Hold (Alliance)
Thrallmar (Horde)
Cenarion Expedition (All)
Sporeggar (All)
The Mag’har (Horde)
Kurenai (Alliance)
The Consortium (All)
The Aldor (All)
The Scryers (All)
The Sha’tar (All)
The Violet Eye (All)
Keepers of Time (All)
Scale of the Sands (All)

I hear they won't be doing an open beta for this. True?

Last.FM · Forum Sniper Joined: 26 Jul 2005 Posts: 696

im going to make a draeni (sp?) so i can ride that pimpin mount